Fire Department Battalion Chief Richard Geyer says the Sikorsky aircraft went down Sunday morning while lifting an air-conditioning unit off the roof of a building at the Raytheon plant about one mile south of Los Angeles International Airport.

The helicopter plunged into a patio area, setting the building’s first and second floors ablaze. Geyer says the fire was knocked down in about 30 minutes. Nobody on the ground was injured.

Federal Aviation Spokesman Mike Fergus says the pilot was pulled from the cockpit just before the aircraft burst into flames. The pilot was taken to a hospital.

Fergus says the Sikorsky was completely destroyed.

The cause of the crash will be investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

As a former resident of Los Angeles and still an active employee of Raytheon in Tucson, I am trying to find information about the helicopter crash that I first learned off on Fox News television. Unfortunately KNX has let me down.
Tucson Osty

Back in the mid-80’s two small planes crashed over Sepulveda Blvd., one hit the ground in front of the Hacienda Hotel and the other crashed into what looks like the same Raytheon (then Hughes) building..

KNX did mention it this morning after it occurred. They dont need to run the story in to the dirt, the helicopter crashed and burned pilot survived enough said. Got a bunch of whiners in the post. If you dont like the news then go make some news and do something for the world otherwise shut the hell up.

turbine failure happens…….the pilot could not pickle the load as needed because the proper safety check prociedure was not performed on the belly hook to ensure electronic release, gotta flip the switch from the manual release position on some models of belly hooks.
nothing is foolproof i witnessed a drop of a external load due to the weird way the main shackle that was attached to the belly hook of same type of rotorcraft, twisted itself during transport and was un intentionaly pickled to the surprise of the ground crew, and the pilot.